Martha & Marley Spoon (06-28-16)

At Marley Spoon, they believe cooking should be a pleasure, and they know that with full lives and busy schedules, it can be a challenge. To help make weeknights easier and dinners more delicious, they take the thousands of dishes they’ve created and deliver them right to your door.

Cooking with Marley Spoon means eating sustainably, supporting small food businesses, and saving time to make time for everything else you want to do. They offer the best of the best in their boxes, including grass-fed beef, Berkshire pork, American-caught shrimp, artisanal cheeses and much more.

They want you to cook what excites you, which is why they offer ten recipes to choose from every week. You’ll always find something for everyone at your table, including kid-friendly dishes, healthy eats, gluten-free recipes and more.

What sets Marley Spoon apart from other quality meal prep delivery kits is their partnership with Martha Stewart. Along with her recipes comes her unsurpassed culinary knowledge to help you cook a delicious meal in the least amount of time. Every dish embodies Martha's love for seasonal ingredients, tried-and-true smart cooking techniques and delicious flavors.

My husband and I love to cook our own homemade meals throughout the week, usually repeats... chili, spaghetti, soups, grilled meats and veggies. But this enables us to take it a step further and make delicious dinners that we wouldn't think to just make on the fly. With Martha & Marley Spoon, you can incorporate gourmet meals into your diet with minimal effort.

I should note that this order was not delivered properly. When I received the notification that my box had arrived, and it was not... HERE... I immediately got on the horn to Marley Spoon. Come to find out it had been delivered to a house down the street. Several hours earlier. In June. Meat. Now that's not their fault. That honor goes to the shipper. But Marley Spoon was super awesome and gave me a free box (see July) for free. I hope they got their money back.

The first meal I chose to create was the Steak Kebabs & Corn Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette. I went out and bought the same 12oz sirloin that came with the box but was destroyed by the sun. I started by soaking the skewers in water and cutting the steak, bell pepper and onion into 1-1/2 inch pieces. After tossing with olive oil, salt and pepper, I threaded the skewers.

I preheated the oven broiler, brushed some oil in the corn and grilled the kebabs and corn under the broiler for 8-10 minutes.

While that was occurring, I made the dressing by picking parsley and cilantro leaves from the stems and finely chopping. In a bowl I combined those with vinegar, Dijon mustard and 2 tablespoons of oil, seasoning with salt and pepper.

I coated the finished kebabs with the dressing and served the dish over the roasted corn.

These turned out really good. I'm not much of a steak eater so I was glad that the meat was tender, probably overdone for most people but still tender. The veggies still had some crispness to them and the dressing was sweet and tangy.

The second meal I made was Barbecue Chicken with Dill Pickle Potato Salad. Of course, first thing I had to do was stock up on two boneless, skinless chicken breasts that hadn't already been baked by the sun on my neighbor's porch.

I cut the potatoes into smaller pieces and boiled until cooked but not completely smooshy. Meanwhile I peeled and finely chopped the shallot and pickle. Then I removed and chopped the dill fronds, and sliced the sugar snap peas on a diagonal. In a large bowl, I combined the shallot, pickle, dill, mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of mustard. I tossed in the potatoes, sugar snap peas, salt and pepper, and placed in the refrigerator to set.

After simmering a mixture of the ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, remaining vinegar and mustard, effectively making my own barbecue sauce, I set about preparing the chicken.

I seasoned it on both sides and grilled on one side until golden. I flipped and brushed with barbecue sauce, repeating three more times until the chicken was cooked all the way through.

Okay, seriously though... the potato salad was out of this world! I must've done something wrong with the sugar snap peas though because they were difficult to eat. So I ate around them. The chicken and barbecue sauce were delicious as well. This recipe was worthy of a kitchen magnet! Up on the fridge you go!

Finally, Roasted Fish & Kimchi Potatoes with Arugula. Staying true to the recipe as Martha and Marley Spoon meant it for me, I bought pollock filets. Frozen pollock filets but pollock filets all the same.

Something else was ruined along with the fish. Kimchi. I did not know what kimchi was, but I wanted it, so I spent better part of the day searching every nook and cranny at the supermarket. Unfortunately I could not find any. I decided maybe I could look up a recipe and make it myself. Otherwise my four-ingredient meal was to become a three-ingredient meal. And that's when I discovered that kimchi was some evil, foul thing made mostly of fish carcasses, and I realized that God may have plotted for my box to be ruined just so I wouldn't have to eat kimchi. And I finally understood why the box stank so much!

Well, this was certainly going to be an easy recipe to prepare. I tossed the fingerling potatoes in oil with salt and pepper, and roasted for 20 minutes until golden and tender. This is where I would be making the dressing. I smashed the potatoes and placed back in the oven with the pollock until it was cooked through and opaque. I was happy to discover that the frozen fish took the same amount of time to cook that the fresh fish would have.

I mixed the arugula and cooked potatoes in a bowl with oil and seasoned before serving with the pollock.

I wasn't expecting much from this dish because of the small number of ingredients, but it was really good. I added some sriracha for the heat that the kimchi would have provided, but honestly, this simple dish stood proudly on its own. 

Martha & Marley Spoon usually costs around $10 per meal per person. I received my first box for half off, which is fairly common among these programs, so look for the deal.

What set this box apart from other meal delivery kits is the groundedness of the recipes (so simple yet so delicious), the overly accommodating and friendly customer service experience I had, and... that potato salad! Oh, that potato salad! I will definitely be using Martha & Marley Spoon again.

Happy cooking!